[1] https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/02/singl...

It definitely feels like we're moving towards a system of feudal property barons extracting rent from people who are quickly being priced out of the means to own their own home.

I budget $2,000 a year for repairs on a modest-sized home; most years it's under $1,000, but HVAC and roof are infrequent and fairly expensive.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesleadershipforum/2012/12/1...

Anecdotally speaking, I bought a house in a new minority subdivision in 2003 brand new build. The value went up by about $40K by 2008, crashed to $40K less than I bought it, and today it’s still worth $4K less than I bought it in 2003. It’s still a nice neighborhood so it hasn’t gone “downhill”.

Being the numbers oriented, unemotional person that I am, I did a strategic default in 2012 realizing that I could be eligible for an FHA 3.5% down loan in 3 years after the foreclosure, applied and received a loan exactly three years later and had a house built in a new subdivision in a predominantly White neighborhood. The value of the house has gone up $70K in 3 years and a house with basically the same floor plan is being sold for $70K more than mine was 3 years ago. .

And to hopefully stave off some of the expected replies:

- No the world shouldn’t work like that. But to paraphrase Buffett, “the world can stay racist longer than I can stay solvent”.

- No I’m not racist and it’s not that “I don’t want to be around Black people”. I am Black.

- Yes I know “White Flight” is a real phenomenon. But there is also a well studied “tipping point” when that occurs. I don’t see that tipping point happening.

[1]https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/PHXRNSA [2]https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MIXRNSA [3]https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LVXRNSA [4]https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CHXRCNSA

If it sold for the price I bought it, I'd walk with at least $40k of equity after closing costs. But it's also increased in value about $60k.

And I'll have maybe $10k in maintenance and fix up costs over that decade.

I'd like something along the lines of federal rent control. Limit the rent that can be charged to reduce the profitability of buying up house after house. This would be unpopular with the current owners of homes as it would lower property values, but over time they would remain much more stable.

in any case, part of the solution is to equalize the capital gains tax with income tax rates and have the capital gains tax escalate with the number of homes owned (but keep a small tax advantage for long-term owners of a primary lived-in home). and get rid of 1031 exchanges for investment property, which greatly advantage large capital holders over the average citizen.

No politician will vote for this because they know where their bread is buttered. It would be suicide as they would find out when they lose every large donor. I doubt we'll ever get people into office that would vote for anything to disadvantage property holders.

Even if you vote it in through a referendum, I expect a judge will crush it through some weaselly interpretation of the constitution or other precedent. California in particular has had several major referendums reversed by the courts. Will of the oligarchy, not that of the people.

It is entirely different to move your company or business to another country vs another state. Most people are not going to expatriate and most companies wouldn't gain much from doing so. Property is already much cheaper in Mexico, but you don't see anybody with a high-skill workforce moving there.

Quick math for the rest of you out there: That means they paid 1000 in 2009 and now pay ~3500 in 2019.

Also, yes, I feel you there. Our rental agreement states a mandatory 10% increase if you rent from year to year. I've no idea why the company is this stupid though. The rents around us are falling or staying steady these days. So we just move to the block over every year and the old place stays empty for 3 months before then being rented out for the same or less than we paid. I'm sure there is some tax thing involved here that makes it so they don't have to care all that much.

Also, yeah, we don't have a lot, and we can just move houses in about a weekend in my 4-door.

So it's in their best interests to try to squeeze customers when possible, even with the occasional person that moves out, they'll net a lot more from tenants who just don't bother to dispute the increase.

Wait, what? It's a deposit, you get it back at the end of the lease.

Like, granted, if you have a lot of damage to the carpets, sure, you're gonna be out $80 for the cleaning of them. But I've always gotten it back in full after a month or so.

For me, moving is litterally a weekend (maybe including a Friday afternoon). We really don't have much to move. I'm not joking.

Also, my state allows you to just forward the mail to the new address for free. It only lasts a year, but you can re-up that at any time. We've just done that without much worry and we also have a lot of online stuff that works through the phones and whatnot.

I guess I'm just old hat at doing this kinda moving stuff. It's not much stress for me, though you are right, it is some extra stress. For us, it's worth the savings.

If you do have more possessions than you can move yourself, or your moving long distances, you end up spending a ton of money. Movers usually cost me 5-10k and I didn't even have a lot of stuff (2bd apartment worth of possessions). Ditto if you need your car(s) moved.

Wow! That is insane!

Here it's about $800 for anything less than 3 hours each way per truck load. And I think that is a rip-off. I've seen college towns that'll charge $50 for frat bros to move you about town all said and done (but then again a frat bro is moving your TV, so beware).

For me, moving about the same amount is going to cost $1000 including storage for a month. I guess if you are also having the movers pack everything, it might cost that much, but I've heard of people moving across the country for less money.

Also, paying myself is a strange concept. Yeah, it's 'lost time' but only to me and my family. It's not like other forms of employment. Besides, it keeps us a bit lighter on the clutter, though we would like some more things in life. $800 payed to myself is a lot different than $800 paid to some movers.

I suppose you don't have kids though, which may simplify things.

A fixed mortgage is much less painful.

I'm in total agreement, but the housing prices around here aren't very good (obviously expensive). Besides, we don't have stable work yet, so locking into a mortgage that will go underwater isn't wise.

Loyalty tax, perhaps. They expect people to just "take it".

Which means they're almost certainly exaggerating, unless they're in a condo in downtown Chicago, but they did say "bumblefudge-nowhere" so I'd say just straight BS.

Why even sign that agreement? That landlord obviously isn't going to give a toss if there's a issue. Its just a huge red flag for me.

Honestly? It was a good place and a good price. We've no intention of dealing with that issue either. We tend to move every year as the jobs change. Would we like to stay in this place for longer? Sure! But it's unlikely to occur.

IIRC there are renters rights in many areas that make this more difficult, requiring a court order typically, but not all areas have this and Landlords will put those clauses in the lease regardless just in case the tenants aren't familiar with the law.

In california for example, an HOA just has to get you to have $1800 in unpaid fines before they can simply evict you and sell the house to recuperate the costs.

That was part of the motivation for buying my first house. The rent was going up $50/month every 6 months, and the mortgage was going to cost only $100/month more than the rent. I figured in a year I'd break even, and in 2 years I'd be ahead.

The thing is that landlords may have purchased the place a long time ago. They can still make a profit with rent being less than what a mortgage+ would be today.

I’d like to invest in rental property, but would never want to be a landlord. My mother rented out a house and the renter trashed it.

Georgia:

"If a landlord does not have cause to terminate a tenancy early and evict a tenant, then the landlord must wait until the lease term has ended before expecting the tenant to move. In some cases, the landlord may still need to give the tenant written notice to move.

"Month-to-Month Tenancy

"If a tenant is in a month-to-month tenancy and the landlord wishes to end the tenancy, the landlord needs to give the tenant a written 60-day notice. This notice will inform the tenant that the landlord is terminating the tenancy and the tenant must move out of the rental unit by the end of 60 days. If the tenant does not move out of the rental unit by that time, then the landlord can file an eviction lawsuit with the court (see Ga. Code Ann. § 44-7-7). For more information on this topic, check out Georgia Notice Requirements to Terminate a Month-to-Month Tenancy.

"Fixed-Term Tenancy

"If a landlord does not have cause to evict a tenant who is in a fixed-term tenancy (such as for six months or one year), then the landlord must wait until the end of the term before expecting the tenant to move. The landlord does not need to give the tenant written notice to move unless the terms of the lease or rental agreement specifically require the landlord to do so. The landlord can expect the tenant to move by the end of the term."

Of course, there's no penalty if the landlord initiates it, but you lose your deposit if you do.

Not saying you're wrong but at least where I've lived, I could very easily find a new place to live in 60 days. I think usually landlords give the terms of a new lease much less than 60 days away from the end of the current lease, and most people usually don't decide to move or stay before they know how much their current place is going to cost.

Some people will never move at all because the thought of having to "go through all our stuff and pack it all" is too daunting.

I do not see how this possibly applies to renters though.

There is no such thing unless your home is paid off.

If you have a mortgage and are hit by a catastrophic life event that leaves you without a job and depleted of your emergency fund, your home is gone.

That risk exists regardless of whether you rent or own.

The risks he mentioned are unique to rentals. It's very common for leases to essentially say "We can kick you out if we feel like it," no justification necessary. Even if the lease stipulates some justification, they'll find a way around it ("Our maintenance crew noted your excessive noise on 37 separate occasions. You also have a wreath hanging on your door, which is another violation of the lease.").

It's extremely rare for a mortgage to contain any sort of terms that allow you to be arbitrarily kicked out of your home.

Plus, it's easy enough to avoid HOAs.

Stop paying your mortgage and it can be months or years.